| Event: | Women's 200 metre butterfly |
| Games: | 2012 Summer |
| Venue: | London Aquatics Centre |
| Date: | July 31, 2012 (heats &<br />semifinals) August 1, 2012 (final) |
| Competitors: | 28 |
| Nations: | 21 |
| Win Value: | 2:04.06 |
| Gold: | Jiao Liuyang |
| Goldnoc: | CHN |
| Silver: | Mireia Belmonte Garcia |
| Silvernoc: | ESP |
| Bronze: | Natsumi Hoshi |
| Bronzenoc: | JPN |
| Prev: | 2008 |
| Next: | 2016 |
The women's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July and 1 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]
China's Jiao Liuyang stormed home on the final stretch to upgrade her silver from Beijing four years earlier with an Olympic title in the event. She produced a striking effort on the last lap to come from behind and demolish the field with a gold-medal time and a new Olympic record in 2:04.06, shaving 0.12 seconds off the standard set by teammate Liu Zige.[2] [3] Meanwhile, Mireia Belmonte García made an Olympic milestone to become Spain's first ever female medalist and fourth overall in swimming, as she brought home the silver in 2:05.25, the ninth-fastest of all time.[4] [5] Japan's Natsumi Hoshi added a sixth bronze to her swimming squad at these Games, in a sterling time of 2:05.48.[6] [7]
Leading through the prelims and the semifinals, U.S. swimmer Kathleen Hersey finished off the podium with a fourth-place time in 2:05.78, a full second ahead of her teammate Cammile Adams (2:06.78).[8] Great Britain's Jemma Lowe (2:06.80), Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos (2:07.33) and defending champion Liu Zige (2:07.77) rounded out the field.[7] [9]
Notable swimmers missed the final roster featuring Australia's Jessicah Schipper, a former world record holder; and Poland's Otylia Jędrzejczak, a 2004 Olympic champion, both of whom placed thirteenth (2:08.21) and sixteenth (2:13.09) respectively in the semifinals.[10]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 6 | 2:06.41 | Q | |||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 2:07.15 | Q | |||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 2:07.64 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3 | 6 | 2:07.75 | Q | |||
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2:07.79 | Q | |||
| 6 | 2 | 4 | 2:08.04 | Q | |||
| 7 | 2 | 6 | 2:08.14 | Q | |||
| 8 | 3 | 3 | 2:08.18 | Q | |||
| 9 | 2 | 5 | 2:08.19 | Q | |||
| 10 | 2 | 7 | 2:08.45 | Q | |||
| 11 | 4 | 4 | 2:08.72 | Q | |||
| 12 | 2 | 3 | 2:08.74 | Q | |||
| 13 | 3 | 2 | 2:08.94 | Q | |||
| 14 | 4 | 1 | 2:09.24 | Q | |||
| 15 | 2 | 2 | 2:09.25 | Q | |||
| 16 | 4 | 2 | 2:09.33 | Q | |||
| 17 | 3 | 5 | 2:09.92 | ||||
| 18 | 1 | 5 | 2:10.99 | NR | |||
| 19 | 4 | 7 | 2:11.05 | ||||
| 20 | 3 | 7 | 2:11.07 | ||||
| 21 | 3 | 8 | 2:11.10 | ||||
| 22 | 1 | 3 | 2:11.23 | NR | |||
| 23 | 4 | 8 | 2:11.42 | ||||
| 24 | 1 | 4 | 2:11.54 | ||||
| 25 | 2 | 1 | 2:12.25 | ||||
| 26 | 3 | 1 | 2:13.17 | ||||
| 27 | 2 | 8 | 2:13.81 | ||||
| 28 | 1 | 6 | 2:14.29 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2:06.10 | Q | |||
| 2 | 3 | 2:06.37 | Q | |||
| 3 | 6 | 2:07.33 | Q | |||
| 4 | 5 | 2:07.69 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | 2:07.84 | ||||
| 6 | 7 | 2:08.21 | ||||
| 7 | 2 | 2:08.32 | ||||
| 8 | 8 | 2:13.09 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2:05.90 | Q | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2:06.62 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2:06.82 | Q | |||
| 4 | 7 | 2:06.99 | Q | |||
| 5 | 5 | 2:07.37 | Q | |||
| 6 | 1 | 2:07.83 | NR | |||
| 7 | 8 | 2:08.00 | ||||
| 8 | 6 | 2:08.96 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 2:04.06 | |||||
| 6 | 2:05.25 | NR | ||||
| 3 | 2:05.48 | |||||
| 4 | 4 | 2:05.78 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | 2:06.78 | ||||
| 6 | 8 | 2:06.80 | ||||
| 7 | 2 | 2:07.33 | ||||
| 8 | 7 | 2:07.77 |